Transcript of PP v Dato' Balwant Singh

-The accused was in his car and the deceased was riding his motorcycle

-The deceased overtook the accused car from the left

-A car came into the lane where the accused was driving

-The accused hooted his car horn to warn the other car

-The deceased mistakenly thought that the hoot was for him and got furious

-The accused and the deceased had a fight

-The deceased pulled the accused out the window and attacked him with a stick

-The accused fired 2 shots

-The first shot was a warning shot

-The second shot killed the deceased

-The accused pleaded guilty and called for the defence of private defence Issues -Whether the force used was reasonable

-Whether the use of force was necessary Decision -The accused was entitled to exercise his right to private defence -Accused was acquited and discharged Ratio Decidendi the apprehension of danger that the accused had to his body and life was reasonable as the deceased was armed with a stick that was a thick branch, big enough to cause a person ’s skull or bones to crack if hit with it Quotation “The deceased was behaving like a mad man as if he was possessed. He was shouting, threatening and intimidating. At that stage, the accused thought that he had to disarm the deceased. He felt that if he did not disarm the deceased he would assault him further and his life would be in danger. The accused then fired the second shot towards the right of the deceased hoping that he would drop the stick and stop assaulting him. His intention was to incapacitate or maim the deceased. Unfortunately, the shot killed the deceased.”